To Sit With Sorrow

It was last year, Ma Belle had died, arrangement had been made, a memorial service had been planned. But there was one day when Papa asked what we were all thinking,"What do we do today?" It was a day where there was nothing left to do, it was a day to simply sit with sorrow. A day to reflect on the life of the one you love but also a day to simply feel the emotions that come with grief.

I think the Saturday between the day Jesus died for man's rebellion and Easter was a day set aside to simply reflect on what had just happened. How interesting it is to me that the Sabbath was the day after the crucifixion. On the Sabbath every thing was to stop there was to be no activity. With nothing to do there was no way to escape the depth of sorrow Jesus' followers must have felt.

The book of Jeremiah tells the story of the price that was paid for rebellion against God. Before they had ever entered the Promised Land they had been told, "You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess."(Deuteronomy 11:8) Deuteronomy had also told what would happen if the people rebelled against God. Jeremiah was the weeping prophet who lived during the time when the punishment for rebellion that had been foretold came to pass.

Jeremiah also wrote Lamentations. "Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the LORD inflicted on the day of his fierce anger."(Lamentations 1:12) To lament is to passionately express grief. I wonder if when the disciples were lamenting on that Sabbath after Jesus died if they thought about Isaiah 53?"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom me hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Lord Jesus, I do not like to pause and sit with sorrow. But it is only when I stop long enough to sit with sorrow and truly feel the darkness of the night that I can know the joy that comes in the morning. "My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:20-23) Lord Jesus You are the Bright Morning Star.